Interior Elevation of Reims Cathedral with a Statue of King Louis I
Charles Percier
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
This sheet shows an elevation of part of the interior of Reims Cathedral with a statue of King Louis I. This design represents one of six drawings that form the only documentation of the plans for the coronation of King Louis XVIII, which never took place. The event was likely delayed, and eventually dismissed due to the precarious state of the French monarchy and the declining health of the King. In addition, the idea of a Royal coronation, bestowed by the French Catholic Church had become a point of contention after the fall of the first monarchy and the Emperor Napoleon’s decision to crown himself. For these reasons, King Louis XVIII’s successor, Charles X, opted not to have a coronation in Reims when he ascended the throne in 1824. Some of the concerns for how the coronation would be perceived can be noted in the decoration scheme that was devised by Percier and Fontaine. The architect duo had also been the official designers for the coronation of Emperor Napoleon. To mark the distinction, in their designs for Reims Cathedral, they veered away from the vocabulary of the Empire Style, and instead worked in a style known as Palladian Gothic. In addition, they incorporated references to the historic legitimacy of the Bourbon dynasty throughout their decoration scheme.
Drawings and Prints
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.